The first public meetings of the Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSAC) will be held Feb. 16-17 in Orlando, Fla., to coincide with the American Academy of Forensic Sciences annual meeting. The OSAC meetings provide an opportunity for subcommittee chairs to announce their priorities for the development of forensic science standards and guidelines and to receive public feedback.
The OSAC is coordinating the development of an OSAC Registry of Approved Standards and an OSAC Registry of Approved Guidelines for the forensic science community under the auspices of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). In December 2014, OSAC subcommittees were provided with an NIST-compiled inventory of 730 existing forensic science standards, guidelines and other pertinent documents. Each subcommittee reviewed the documents for relevance and validity to its discipline, made recommendations for adoption, and identified gaps.
Over this two-day period, each of the five Scientific Area Committees—Digital/Multimedia, Crime Scene/Death Investigation, Biology/DNA, Chemistry/Instrumental Analysis, and Physics/Pattern Interpretation—will hold consecutive meetings to discuss their recommendations. At the end of each presentation, attendees have the opportunity to offer a brief public comment. The meetings will be webcast, and written comments may be submitted by email through March 3. No registration is required for OSAC meeting attendance.
For more information on the OSAC public meetings, visit the NIST Forensics website.
